Category: Uncategorized

Kitchen tongs. Not much else to say. OH! I have used the larger grilling tongs to clean out the gutter while hanging out a second story window. That’s interesting.

With the weather warming and some good rain, things are starting to turn green in the garden so it made me think of garden tools. There’s at least two months worth of things to draw! The hand rake is a perfect little tilling tool. Spring is when the lawn is covered in polka dots of dead spots from the dog. The hand rake is perfect for digging up those dead spots and reseeding.

Maybe not an everyday object in every home but in our’s it certainly is. My son has been playing since he was six years old. It started off with squeaky Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, a tiny violin, and a crooning black lab by his side. Sadly, the lab is gone (RIP Bondo) but the music has stayed and it has improved immensely. I look forward to hearing him pop open the case as I know we are about to be treated to 20 minutes of practice.

The ultimate survival tool (just don’t bring it to an airport or a school). This is the big one that comes with the corkscrew, again, ultimate survival tool. Just opening the components of this felt like a big risk and I didn’t even take out all of them for purposes of drawing. Lots of knives here.

My son played badminton in gym at school so we got a set for home and it brings back loads of childhood memories. I also remember riding my bike face first into the badminton net and having a lovely rope burn grid across my nose. Back to the shuttlecock. What an interesting name…. I remember calling it a birdie but shuttlecock sounds way more pro.

Today would have been my Mom’s 79th birthday. I miss her every single day. But reminders of her appear daily and my Dad gave a special one to me recently. He found her old sketchbook, one that she used long before I was around. She was very talented but it was definitely a hidden talent as she didn’t draw often. As a kid, I remember asking her to draw and she was very good at faces and of course dresses for paper dolls. The first sketch in the book is this collection of vases. I spent a morning recreating her drawing for today’s post and had to include her original (shown on the right). It’s special for me to see them side by side. Happy Birthday Mom.

After 83 drawings, I am now left with 12 nubby white pencils. Yes, 12. I don’t know what to do with them. I can draw with them to a certain point but once they get shorter than 3 inches they are completely useless… like a golf pencil.

My mom loved to read Nancy Drew as a kid. I read them in the era of the yellow hardcovers. I have many of her old Nancy Drew books including this one, The Mystery At Lilac Inn, which has an inscription inside. The book, published in 1931, was given to her on Valentine’s Day 1958 when she was 11 years old. The denim colored cover has this amazing grasscloth texture that was very hard to duplicate with my white pencil. LOTS of lines drawn to create the effect.

I go through a pair every two years. I must have an unusual gait because the way the tread wears on these is peculiar. I completely destroy the tread up by the toes but only on the outer side. I wear them down to the point when the cork peels away from the sole and then I glue them. Once the glue fails, and only then, is it time for a new pair. I have about one more summer left on these.